Anytime you are thinking about an extreme diet, you need to do your background work and find out the specifics first. When choosing one of these diets, you should be cautious and if possible have a doctor monitor your progress; they may not be a healthy weight loss option. In this piece, we intend on pointing out the helpful and the harmful aspects of intensive weight loss diets.

The biggest advantage with a very low calorie diet is that patients who are obese and have a weight related medical issue can drop the weight very fast. They can lose up to 20 lbs per month as it's possible to lose 5 lbs each week on this kind of diet. For anybody with a medical condition such as high cholesterol, hypertension or heart disease this can benefit them ever so much and it can sometimes save people's lives. It's best to get help from a doctor if going down this route of weight loss if you're being treated for a health condition already, and it's still important even if you're not. It's essential that you work with your doctor to create a plan that'll maintain your weight loss for the months to come. From research there have been no proven benefits of going on a very low calorie diet when compared with just a low calorie diet. A typical low calorie diet allows you to eat between 800 and 1500 calories per day, while a very low calorie diet keeps you under the 800 calorie mark. Initial weight loss is usually greater if you're on a VLCD, but much of this is due to fluid loss. When it comes to losing weight, studies conducted over a few months found that a low calorie diet is just as effective as a very low calorie diet. Also, a very low calorie diet can present some horrible side effects, such as dry skin, headaches, fatigue and hair loss, just to name a few. Whilst it may be necessary for somebody with medical reasons to go on a VLCD, for most people looking to lose some weight a typical low calorie diet might be more comfortable for them.

If you look from the point of overall fitness then you will see very low calorie diets have serious drawbacks. By severely restricting calories, you'll be losing muscle mass as well as fat, which can be unhealthy for a variety of reasons. Because everything is reduced in this diet so is dairy and calcium which can increase risk of osteoporosis for women. You may find it difficult to work out to keep your muscle mass up while you are on this diet because of the lack of energy. Anemia is another risk to be aware of. So, while a very low calorie diet may be appropriate if you're obese or your excess weight presents a serious health risk, it may not be the best idea for the average person.

Whilst very low calorie diets can certainly be good for short term weight loss, their long term benefits are questionable. For the people who are obese and under the supervision of a medical professional this may be an appropriate kind of diet. For other people it's important that they get sufficient nutrients that their body requires. After all, you don't just want to lose weight, you want to stay healthy too.

Santos Crumrine is a well-known author, He has been writing different blogs on different topics like health,nutrition,supplements etc .Checkout his article on Ambit Energy marketing and on empowernetwork organisation